Dogo Canario/Perro de Presa Canario

Our dog Thor is monstrous in size, but he doesn't know it because we spent a tremendous amount of time training him from the time he was a puppy. Thor weighs in at a good 120 lbs. and we're expecting him to put on another 20 to 30 pounds as he matures. He can eat his weight in food, too! Although we have spent a lot of time on obedience training with Thor, we choose not own small pets because we are aware that this breed has been known to attack smaller animals. It seems foolish to make our dog fight his instincts on a daily basis.

We love the breed, and have had the past pleasure of raising two Presas, as we like to call them, before getting Thor, so we knew what to expect. True to his breed, he was a challenge to train, but TOTALLY AND COMPLETELY NECESSARY WORK if you are going to own one. Don't think otherwise for even a minute. They are strong-willed and powerful and no amount of love or affection is going to train a massive animal like this unless they are obedience trained from the very start.

My wife and I value Presas as guard dogs. We don't have any children, but we've read that this breed is known for being excellent with them because they are protectors at heart and extremely loyal.

We ensure they have an outlet for their energy by taking them with us on virtually every opportunity for physical exercise. Even when we're exhausted, we find time to take him for a daily walk, which ends up making us feel better too. We're out in the ex-urbs, and it's fairly wide open and rural here, which is a great environment for Thor. We hope you will find as much pleasure of owning one of these magnificent dogs as we do.